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Please
note that this is not a verbatim transcript of the Press Briefing. It is merely
a summary.
ICTY Weekly
Press Briefing
Date: 10.07.2002
Time: 1:50 p.m.
REGISTRY AND
CHAMBERS
Christian
Chartier, Chief of Public Information Services, made the following statement:
Good afternoon
to all,
As
we speak, Radovan Stankovic, who was detained yesterday by SFOR forces, is being
transferred to The Hague. As usual, a press release will be issued as soon as
he has arrived at the Detention Unit and a date for his Initial Appearance will
be announced in due course. Radovan Stankovic will be the 56th accused
in proceedings before the ICTY, with 47 persons currently in the Tribunal’s
Detention Unit and 9 accused on provisional release until their trial begins
or until their return is ordered. Stankovic’s detention also brings down to
21 the number of accused being at large on an open indictment, and it is surely
worth repeating that the Tribunal demands their immediate voluntary surrender
or arrest.
In
anticipation of the initial appearance of Miroslav Deronjic, that will take
place later today at 2.30 p.m., please note that the year of birth of the accused
is 1954 instead of 1945.
After
today, on-going trials will be adjourned until next week in order to allow the
Judges to hold their regular Plenary Session, on Thursday and Friday. I would
like to highlight two topics on which they will more specifically focus their
attention. First, the Judges will discuss the Annual Report that the President
will present later this year at Headquarters. Secondly, they will finalise their
discussion, initiated during the Extraordinary Plenary held in April, about
the establishment of an International Bar Association and the adoption of a
Code of Conduct for Defence Counsels practicing at the ICTY. Both instruments
are designed to equip counsels with better means to ensure their independence
and ethics, and thus to guarantee the fairness of the judicial process.
Before
the adjournment, a couple of court proceedings will take place:
In courtroom
II, at 4.00 p.m., a hearing will be held to consider the renewed motion for
provisional release filed on 5 June by Momcilo Krajisnik.
In courtroom
III, at 2.25 p.m., a hearing will be held on the contempt issue that has arisen
in the Brdjanin case.
In
the near future, you should also expect a hearing on the Motion for Provisional
Release by Mile Mrskic. This hearing, during which the medical reports requested
by the Trial Chamber will also be discussed, has been scheduled for Friday 19
July at 4.15 p.m.
Turning
now to court rulings:
In the case
The Prosecutor v. Milomir Stakic, on 5 July, Trial Chamber II ordered
the Registry to provide under very strict conditions documents bearing the
signature of the accused. This is in order to allow an independent forensic
handwriting examination as ordered by the Chamber on 28 June following a dispute
between the parties as to the authenticity of the accused’s signature on documents
tendered as exhibits by the Prosecution.
In the case
The Prosecutor v. Vidoje Blagojevic, Dragan Obrenovic, Dragan Jokic and
Momir Nikolic, on 5 July, Trial Chamber II denied the Motion by Dragan
Jokic requesting a separate trial.
In terms of legal
filings, I would like to draw your attention to the following:
Firstly,
with regard to cases in front of a Trial Chamber:
In the case
The Prosecutor v. Milan Martic, on 9 July the defendant filed a Motion
for provisional release. This motion brings to eight the number of accused
who have requested to be provisionally released.
In the case
The Prosecutor v. Slobodan Milosevic, following the Prosecution’s filing
of an appeal against the decision of the Trial Chamber not to admit the testimony
of two OTP investigators, the amici curiae filed on 8 July their observations.
We have also
received a number of filings in the cases known as the Omarska Camp case and
the Keraterm Camp case, involving three accused respectively, namely Zeljko
Meakic, Momcilo Gruban and Dusko Knezevic on the one hand, and Dusan Fustar,
Pedrag Banovic and again Dusko Knezevic on the other hand. First, the Prosecution
applied on 5 July for the joinder of the cases in one indictment and subsequently
in one trial. On 9 July, the counsel for Momcilo Gruban filed a Response to
the Prosecution’s Motion. The same accused had also filed on 5 July a Motion
challenging the form of the initial indictment.
In the case
The Prosecutor v. Radoslav Brdjanin and Momir Talic, lawyers for the
Washington Post reporter Jonathan Randal filed their submissions to the Appeals
Chamber, who is dealing with their appeal against the Trial Chamber Decision
to compel Jonathan Randal to appear as a witness.
And
with regard to the cases in front of the Appeals Chamber:
Among the defendants
awaiting a final decision on their request for provisional release are Nikola
Sainovic and Dragoljub Ojdanic. As you know a Bench of the Appeals Chamber
is due to consider the Prosecution’s Application for leave to appeal against
the provisional release decision of 26 June. Following the Bench Order of
28 June, the defence counsels for Nikola Sainovic and Dragoljub Ojdanic filed
on 5 July a joint opposition to the Prosecutor’s application; three days later,
the Prosecution filed a reply to the joint opposition; and the day after,
the Defence filed a short reply to the Prosecution’s Reply. All these documents
are being translated as a matter of urgency, as requested by the Bench. The
three Judges will consider their Decision as soon as possible. This Decision
is expected to be rendered next week.
In the case
The Prosecutor v. Tihomir Blaskic, a revised redacted version of the
Defendant’s Brief on Appeal became public on 4 July.
Finally,
I am glad to inform you that translations into French and/or BCS of documents
initially issued in English are now available:
The Judgement
of Trial Chamber II of 15 March 2002 in the case The Prosecutor against
Milorad Krnojelac has been translated into BCS. It is a lengthy document
that is being released on our Internet site.
The indictment
against Darko Mrdja is now available in French and has been released on our
Internet site.
Also available
in French, and available upon request, is the French translation of the Decision
of Trial Chamber III on 26 June to grant provisional release to Nikola Sainovic
and Dragojlub Ojdanic (but to stay the decision pending the determination
of the appeals proceedings).
I
am now happy to turn the floor over to the Office of the Prosecutor:
Florence Hartmann,
Spokeswoman for the Office of the Prosecutor, made the following statement:
The Chief Prosecutor
strongly denies conducting any investigation against former President Clinton
or any other US officials.
Mrs Del Ponte
firmly denies the Washington Times allegations published on July 8, 2002, suggesting
she was investigating former President Clinton.
On two occasions,
the author of the article (Jeffrey T. Kuhner) called me in connection with the
Gotovina’s case but none of what I said could suggest any possible investigation
of US officials.
With regard to
the Gotovina’s indictment, I shall repeat again that the accused should be arrested
and stand trial. The Tribunal is the only place where his guilt or innocence
can be established.
On another point,
in relation to the Milosevic case, I wish to deny that the Office of the Prosecutor
decided to withdraw the charge of genocide committed against Bosnian Croats.
The indictment relating to the Bosnian section of the case has not been amended.
Questions:
Asked
about the ex-parte hearing in Krajisnik/Plavsic, Chartier replied that only
the accused Krajisnik would be present.
Asked
if the amount of 33 000 Euros spent by Zoran Zigic in the Detention Unit’s grocery
store could be explained Chartier replied that the accused had access to a canteen.
It is a small facility selling the usual basic products food, products for hygiene,
some publications and phone cards. This kind of spending, by the accused, was
an indication, amongst other things, that a verification of his financial status
should be undertaken, Chartier added.
Asked
if the 10 people listed on the defence team of Zigic was usual Chartier replied
that the accused, throughout their trial, are entitled to a lead counsel, two
additional co-counsel, a number of legal assistant as well as defence investigators.
The press release (Press Release 686e) mentioned a team comprising up to ten
people but this does not mean that there was always ten people working on the
case, it depended on what stage the investigation was at.
Asked
if the Registry was investigating more cases of fee splitting, Chartier replied
that the financial situation of other accused was being examined.
Asked
if items were ‘traded’ in the detention unit, Chartier replied that he has never
heard of this happening.
Asked
what period the investigation covered, Chartier replied that the investigation
covers the time spent by Zoran Zigic in detention at the Tribunal starting in
late April 1998.
Asked
to comment about if there was an official request from the Office of the Prosecutor
sent to Belgrade, with regards to a former FRY President, Hartmann replied that
the OTP would never comment on any legal requests, they were treated as confidential.
Even if a person’s name were mentioned in the courtroom, the OTP would never
confirm to whom, when or where requests were sent. The OTP would also hope that
any Request for Assistance sent to the Ministry of Justice or other official
organs in the former Yugoslavia would remain confidential and not be used by
them for public purpose, she added.
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